UTILITARIANISM 



6017 



UTRECHT 



ers and a fine public library. Among notable 

 public buildings are a $1,000,000 county govern- 

 ment building, the state armory and the city 

 hall. Roscoe Conkling Park is the largest of 

 thirteen parks, which together comprise 643 

 acres. DJ.H. 



UTILITARIANISM, utilita'rianiz'm, a 

 doctrine of ethics and philosophy which adopts, 

 as the criterion of right and wrong, the welfare 

 and happiness of the greatest number of the 

 human race. Utilitarians believe that an act is 

 good or evil only to the extent that it proves 

 itself serviceable or detrimental to the welfare 

 of society. The word utility was first used in 

 reference to this system by Jeremy Bentham, 

 but John Stuart Mill (which see) first definitely 

 stated the theory. Others identified with the 

 system were Spencer, Locke, Hobbes, Sir James 

 Mackintosh and Sir Leslie Stephen. The phi- 

 losophy of the ancient Greek scholar Epicurus 

 bears a resemblance to Utilitarianism. See 

 EPICURUS, subhead Epicureanism. 



UTOPIA, u to' pi a, a celebrated book by Sir 

 Thomas More, written in Latin, and first pub- 

 lished in 1516. Its earliest English translation 

 appeared in 1551. Written in the form of a 

 romance, it is in reality a political treatise, 

 dealing with all the social and economic evils 

 of the times and the remedy therefor. 



Utopia is an imaginary island, supposed to 

 have been discovered by one of the companions 

 of Americus Vespucius, and the book describes 

 the ideal state of society which there existed. 

 All poods and property were owned and used 

 in common, and in order to receive their share 

 of supplies all except invalids and the aged 

 were obliged to work for six hours each day. 

 Homes were redistributed by lot every ten 

 years, and people dined together in large halls. 

 One of the noteworthy features of society in 

 Utopia was that it was "lawful for every man 

 to favor and follow what religion he would." 

 ;h a man might try to convince others of 

 >olief, provided he did it "peaceably, gently, 

 ily and soberly." Punishment for crimes 

 was as mild as was consistent with ju>tm>. :ind 

 promotion in all offices was by m- 



's romance was not the first work which 



i>n-rinrd such -tate of society 



>t predecessor being Plato's Republic; nor 



was it the last, for men of almost every age 



havo d'-liL'ht-d to i -lire a social order which 



possessed all tl ii! > tlu-ir own did not. 



tmy's Looking Backward is the most note- 



worthy of recent works of such character. The 

 Utopia gave rise to the adjective Utopian, 

 which to-day is applied to schemes of reform 

 or enlightenment which are considered imprac- 

 tical and visionary. 



UTRECHT, u'trckt, an interesting old city 

 of the Netherlands, capital of the province of 

 the same name. It is situated twenty-two 

 miles southeast of Amsterdam, on the Old 

 Rhine. Since 1723 Utrecht has been the head- 

 quarters of the Jansenists (Old Catholics). In 

 1579 there was formed here the union of the 

 seven Protestant provinces out of which grew 

 the nation of the Netherlands. The treaty 

 which ended the War of the Spanish Succession 

 was concluded at Utrecht in 1713 (see UTRBCHT, 

 PEACE OF). Two canals, spanned by many 

 bridges, traverse the city, which contains beau- 

 tiful parks, promenades and the Malieban, a 

 triple avenue of trees. Among the interesting 

 features are the university, founded in 1636, a 

 museum containing paintings by early Utrecht 

 masters, the royal mint, and the veterinary' 

 school ; the latter is the only one of its kind in 

 Holland. The industrial establishments in- 

 clude sawmills, machine shops, breweries, car- 

 pet works and manufactories of floor cloths, 

 velvets, cottons, linens and musical instruments. 

 Utrecht is the chief railway center of the Neth- 

 erlands. Population in 1915, 127,086. 



UTRECHT, PEACE OF, a series of treaties en- 

 tered into by the belligerent nations at the 

 close of the War of the Spanish Succession 

 (see SUCCESSION WARS, subhead The War of th< 

 Spanish Succession). Agreements signed at 

 Utrecht in 1713 were supplemented by the 

 Treaty of Rastadt, concluded between Ger- 

 many and France in 1714, and by the Ba: 

 Treaty of 1715, signed by Austria, England and 

 the Netherlands. The principal terms of tin- 

 peace were as follows: France agreed that the 

 crowns of Spain and France should never be 

 united under one ruler, and it ceded Nova Sco- 

 tia, Newfoundland and the territory about 

 Hudson Bay to England. Spain ceded Gibral- 

 tar and tli.' i>luM(l of Minorca to England, 

 Sicily to the Duke of Savoy, ami Milan. Na- 

 ples, (lie i>land of Sardinia and the ('..thnhr 

 Netherlands to Austria. Holland was pennit- 

 t'd to | lit towns on the frontier of 



thf Austrian ' ids as a barrier against 



French aggression. This peace marks the be- 

 ginning of England's colonial and commercial 

 supremacy. 





